Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to working with partners to continue to grow a thriving community energy sector. The latest Community and Locally Owned Energy statistics show that, at the end of December 2023, there was an estimated 1,028 MW of community and locally owned renewable energy in Scotland. This is a progression of 51% towards the Scottish Government’s target of 2 GW of community and locally owned energy by 2030.

Our target includes different types of community and local ownership to reflect the different needs, requirements and opportunities available to communities across Scotland. It also recognises the role these projects play in making Scotland’s net zero transition more local, democratic and inclusive, with energy projects and solutions better tailored to local needs.

The Scottish Government welcomes the research published by the University of Aberdeen. We recognise that this data covers the time period between 2007 and 2017 and that there will have been continued service innovation in recent years including, for example, the roll out of Near Me.

However it is clear that improvements are needed. Our strategic aim, as reflected in the Cancer Strategy for Scotland (2023-33), is to improve cancer survival and provide excellent, equitably accessible care. One of our 11 ambitions in the strategy is Tackling Inequalities.

A Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the cancer strategy and plan was published in August 2023. A planned external evaluation will focus on inequalities, particularly social deprivation and geographies.

We are committed to understanding patients’ experiences, gaining opportunities for improvement and sharing good practice examples to ensure equitable cancer care. The first mail out of our latest Cancer Patient Experience Survey was sent on 14th February helping us work towards this aim.

The number of medical training places is calculated by the training year they are advertised/filled rather than by financial year. Most posts start in August to September of each year, with a smaller number from a subsequent recruitment round starting in February. The figures quoted in the following table are specific to training years, with data for 2024 not yet available.

The latest published data shows that North Ayrshire Council have paid a total of £187.2 million in unitary charge payments since 2007-08 for its North Ayrshire Schools PFI contract and that the total projected payments from 2023-24 onwards until contract expiry are estimated at £253.6 million.

It also shows that North Ayrshire Council have paid a total of £20.5 million in unitary charge payments since 2017-18 for its Largs Campus contract, which formed part of the NPD/hub Programme and the total projected payments from 2023-24 onwards until contract expiry are estimated at £91.5 million.

The Scottish Government is aware of the pressures facing businesses due to inflation, energy costs and the cost crisis. While Scottish Ministers are sympathetic to calls to replicate the non-domestic rates relief available to businesses in England in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, doing so would have meant that the Scottish Government could not provide the NHS, schools, or emergency services with the funding they require.

The Scottish Government estimates that over 60% of properties in the hospitality sector across Scotland will be eligible for 100% relief from Non-Domestic Rates in 2024-25 (including from the Small Business Bonus Scheme, the new islands and specified remote areas hospitality relief, and others).

The Scottish Government have recently corresponded with the Scottish Parliament’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on this question. See Electronic patient record | Scottish Parliament Website . To support our ambitions set out in the 2021 Strategy - Digital Healthcare Scotland % (digihealthcare.scot) we will be publishing our Delivery Plan for 2024-25 in late April 2024.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many primary care appointments were cancelled in the last two years, broken down by NHS board.

The Scottish Government is preparing a Voluntary Code of Practice on dismissing and replacing land-owning land maintenance companies.

I acknowledge that there has been a considerable time elapsed since the decision to bring forward a voluntary code of practice on dismissing and replacing land-owning maintenance companies.

Unfortunately, due to other pressures, work has not progressed on the voluntary code of practice as anticipated.

Prostate BRCA1/2 genetic testing to support access to Olaparib is available to all eligible patients in Scotland. The testing has been implemented with funding from Scottish Government in 2023-24.

In Scotland genomic testing is provided through a network of four NHS laboratories which are commissioned through NHS National Services Division (NSD), part of NHS National Services Scotland. The laboratories work in conjunction with the Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine (SSNGM) to deliver a directory of genomic tests for people across Scotland as a whole and to ensure that testing is embedded within end-to-end clinical pathways.

The Deputy First Minister has confirmed in a letter on 6 March to COSLA that £62.7 million of additional funding will be provided in 2024-25 and local authorities will have full autonomy to allocate the funding based on local needs and priorities. While all new funding has to be discussed and agreed through the formal financial governance process including the Settlement and Distribution Group (SDG) and COSLA Leaders, Aberdeenshire Council's provisional share of the additional £62.7 million is estimated to be around £2.9 million.

In addition, Aberdeenshire Council will receive around £8 million following the Council’s decision to freeze Council Tax and all Councils will receive their fair share of the currently undistributed sum of £201.1 million following agreement with COSLA.